Michail Antonio and his West Ham team-mates, may be having more than their fair share problems at the moment, but the exciting England squad man still made time to nip down to the Emerson Park Academy.

The Hammers star was down in Hornchurch last week to watch the school take part in the prestigious ESFA Playstation English Schools’ Cup.

The ever-smiling winger was greeted excitedly by the pupils and then had a Q&A session with over 40 pupils on the day.

During that, he revealed his favourite subjects at school were PE and Science, while he thought Joe Hart was the most impressive of the club’s summer signings.

Michail Antoni with a Emerson Park youngster

He also confirmed that Manuel Lanzini was the king of the nutmegs in training.

While he was there, Emerson Park took on St Mary Magdalene Academy from North Londo in the under-12 competition and Antonio was introduced to the teams and posed for photos.

It was the Hornchurch team who came through in the end by 5-2, inspired by the West Ham star.

Antonio was certainly impressed by what he saw.

Michail Antonio with the Emerson Park pupils

“It was great to team up with the Playstation Schools’ Cup as I always enjoying supporting football at grassroots level,” said the West Ham winger.

“After meeting both captains, I managed to watch some of the game and I was really impressed with the football on show.

“It was also nice to see so many smiles on the kids faces as I walked around It is so good to see that.”

The Emerson Park Academy Sports hall also played host to a PS4 gaming zone, set up by the sponsors.

Michail Antonio has a selfie with a Emerson Park youngster

This was acting as a reward for the top performing pupils, with the lucky Jerry Reynolds chosen to challenge Antonio in a game of FIFA 18.

Six pupils from the school were also rewarded by being selected to star alongside the West Ham man in a Sky Sports Game Changers Christmas Special feature filmed at the event.

What a day for the Emerson Park youngsters and perhaps they can inspire Antonio to great things on the pitch too.

It is little things like that which inspire youngsters and it should be said that Antonio also helps

Michail Antonio meets the Emerson Park team

You can follow all this season’s action on www.playstationschoolscup.com or across all the social media channels:

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining,” so the saying goes. So if some warm weather is making your conservatory uninhabitable, think about replacing its roof with a flat one and adding a roof lantern instead.

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